I don't think that it's strictly a matter of the NFL being stubborn, necessarily. Don't get me wrong, stubbornness and conventions are definitely a part of this.

However, as you see with guys like Wilson, Kaepernick, Taylor, etc. we are seeing more college-type packages implemented into NFL offenses. I think you will continue to see more and more of that going forward because that extra runner forces teams to spend an extra defender to stop it. In essence, particularly on run plays, defenses are no longer playing 11 on 10 but rather 11 on 11. That changes the metrics quite a bit.

Still, I think the Aaron Rodgers pass-first type of quarterback is here to stay. BTW, Rodgers is not built like behemoths Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. He is only about 6-1/215 pounds. Still, I think he is hands-down the best quarterback in the NFL. To be honest, I don't think it's even close.

I don't think it is a conscious decision by the coaches, necessarily. I don't think NFL coaches are thinking that they don't want to turn the pro game into the college game. I think they will take anyone they think will help them win.

However, the game is different in the NFL. The line of scrimmage is so much more contentious and violent. Pro D-lineman are so much more athletic as a whole than their collegiate counterparts that the gaps that teams like Oregon and Arizona rely on to succeed simply are not there because freaks of nature like Robert Quinn, Aaron Donald and Ndomikong Suh simply won't allow them to exist. And it's not just the best DL either. Almost all NFL DL can run - which is why they are pros - and are so well-prepared.

That leads me to another point: The coaching is so much better in pro football it's ridiculous. I think that is why we have seen so few college coaches have success in the NFL. Now, a major part of it is because they have so much more time to devote to studying game film and going over their assignments. College teams are limited to 20 hours per week whereas pro teams can pretty much do it as much as their calendar will permit. Still, what you see at the professional level is a whole different level of cat mouse than what you see at the collegiate level. As a passionate fan of both college and professional football, there is no doubt about that.

If you give all of these bright and dedicated people that much time to figure out ways to stop your offense, and you provide them with the athletes to do it, they are going to stop your offense and there are no two ways about that.

That means that you need to have a quarterback who can hurt them in multiple ways. That said, if your quarterback is limited, has one dimension had better be his arm so that he could hurt teams down the field. If a quarterback can only hurt you with his legs, he cannot last in the NFL no matter how clever his system.

One final factor that I think is too often overlooked is the field dimensions themselves. Again, those narrow hashmarks make a big difference because there is never a true wide side of the field. That is always what did in the option at the professional level and that is doing in these run first spread offenses as well. Offenses just don't have as much room to operate and exploit mismatches as they do in the collegiate game. Whenever your entire offense is predicated on getting "men in space" – as we all hear 500 times per game during every college football broadcast – that becomes a problem whenever there is less space with which to operate.

The NFL's FAR superior clock rules are also a factor but I will save that for a different discussion. However, I feel very strongly that college football should adopt the NFL's clock rules as it would help restore some balance to the game and make college football significantly more interesting to watch.

(09-28-2015 11:16 AM)Wedge Wrote:  Meanwhile they can't protect or figure out how to properly use QBs like RG3.

I think this pegging of hope on RG3 types is the problem. Whether it's the discipline of the types to use their entire offense or the coaching and personnel to not properly build around them, I watch a league where these gimmicks come and go, but pocket passers still reign. Guys who blur it here and there can excel, but the league isn't built for guys like RG3. I don't think it should be fixed to make it for them, either.

The game is getting faster. Guys are getting faster, and, thus, so are the defenses. These prototypical types, when they don't have top rushers or receivers necessarily around them, or the best lines in front of them, are sitting ducks when they take that extra beat to reassess the play, roll just a little too far out, step a little too far back, or bob their heads to sweep the field.

Guys like Steve Young and John Elway...they made it work, but look who was around them...

Alex Smith. Third string quality, somehow still starts.

(09-30-2015 11:47 AM)AntiG Wrote:  Alex Smith. Third string quality, somehow still starts.

I don't know many that rate him highly

(09-30-2015 12:07 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(09-30-2015 11:47 AM)AntiG Wrote:  Alex Smith. Third string quality, somehow still starts.

I don't know many that rate him highly

Well Joe Montana thought it was a mistake to keep Kapernick and get rid of Alex Smith. Aside from one playoff run, he might be correct.

Also it probably shows that Jim Harbaugh is just that good of a QB coach.

(09-28-2015 12:23 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  It is criminal that Calvin Johnson has gone through his entire college and pro careers without a good QB.

I'm going to see 2 all time talents never win a Super Bowl with Calvin and Barry. What a cesspool of a franchise.

(10-01-2015 04:05 PM)bronconick Wrote:  

(09-28-2015 12:23 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  It is criminal that Calvin Johnson has gone through his entire college and pro careers without a good QB.

I'm going to see 2 all time talents never win a Super Bowl with Calvin and Barry. What a cesspool of a franchise.

It is, so many great players in the history with nothing to show for.

Eli Manning is way overrated along with Phillip Rivers. Big Ben got to go to the Super Bowl faster and won it twice before Eli got there for his 2, while Rivers sucking away in San Diego.

(10-03-2015 10:38 AM)DexterDevil Wrote:  

(10-01-2015 04:05 PM)bronconick Wrote:  

(09-28-2015 12:23 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  It is criminal that Calvin Johnson has gone through his entire college and pro careers without a good QB.

I'm going to see 2 all time talents never win a Super Bowl with Calvin and Barry. What a cesspool of a franchise.

It is, so many great players in the history with nothing to show for.

Why don't we give 'em to Mungo?

The Lions dynasty in the 50's is criminally underrated.